A Different Lens: Understanding William
by Terrence Orson
Summary: [Working Title] Crime and punishment. That's what he lives by. He's the observant, silent type. Does he have friends? No. Does he want it that way? Does he want someone to be able to see things through his eye? (I urge you to be critical about this.)
1. Chapter One

When you analyze it as objectively as you can, is it really necessary? Is it?

A Different Lens: Understanding William

By

Terrence Orson

**_COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: The author owns none of the characters. The idea is based on true events we all know, but it has a different perspective. Hence, the title. Some elements of established canon have been discarded to suit the author's purpose.  
><em>**

CHAPTER ONE

Know your enemy (credit goes to Waterfront3000). Do you?

He floated above his chair in the back of the seventh grade class. His desk, which stood in the corner on the side of the wall opposite the windows, was slightly misaligned from his row and column. From this point in Miss Simian's class, William Voles, an eyeball with a green pupil and white wings protruding from his sides—a snitch like the the one in the _Harry Potter_ movies, had the best view of all his classmates. He watched them socialize and do their classwork. He sat away from everyone, knowing why.

None of them was his friend. He was a silent student if you didn't count the sound of his wings flapping. Even then, though, you could get so used to it that you might not even register it. Other than that, even a still object made more noise than he. It was because he had no mouth. The only voice that came from his was that in his mind. You could only hear him if he whispered in your ear. His peers found his silence, which meant to them that a lot was on his mind, combined with his appearance, a wide-open eyeball, creepy, like Hans Strudel in those Toaster Strudel commercials. It's not because he's German, nor because he wears Lederhosen. I couldn't care less about the character's nationality or traditional attire. It's because of the strange circumstances occurring in the commercials, combined with Hans' disturbing expression: a very wide-eyed grin. I mean, if a stranger came up to me out of nowhere making that kind of look and wouldn't change it, I'd feel uncomfortable letting him/her near my kids that I don't even have yet.

He was like a security camera in the classroom, watching your every move. In fact, he did. He observed everyone in the class.

Many of them disliked him. William was a snitch, after all. His species' prime function was etiquette awareness for any place to which they went. He knew the rules of the classroom, and the reason he watched everyone was to make sure that they stuck to them like cement. William only did what he did because it was what he knew. He had been raised since birth to observe—he was an eyeball—and report if necessary. Whenever someone misbehaved, he would fly above everyone to Miss Simian's desk and whisper the offense into her ear. Then, she would get up, go to the person's desk unless she felt like staying at her desk, and reprimand them in front of everyone. It was either humiliating for the rule breaker, or he would just shrug it off and think, _Whatever_, yet still have nasty thoughts about William. They all knew it was he who put them in the spotlight.

Behind William was a white poster taped from the back to the top side of the bulletin board. The sentence written on it summed up William's creed. In big black all capital letters:

**DO THE CRIME, DO THE TIME**.

To the right side of it—from the perspective of someone facing it—was a more colorful poster with two pictures. On top was a face acting silly in the midst of a sea of laughing yellow faces. On the bottom, that same face seemed forlorn in a purple background of emptiness and solitude. Each image had a red caption at the bottom.

_Goof off, and the class laughs with you…_

_…but you stay after school alone._

To the left of the center poster was one with sky blue text in a wacky font on a yellow background.

_**Self-control** is knowing you **can**, but deciding you **won't**._

Beneath those was the list of class rules, which was also written on a poster hanging from the whiteboard at the front. In parentheses, there was a reminder at the bottom of each poster:

(_These rules aren't suggestions. They are enforced._)

William spent the class period in the back of the room in front the class rules poster and the maxim poster, detached from everyone. No one looked his way. No one…except Darwin Watterson.

Darwin, a ten-year-old goldfish that had grown legs, sat in the second row in the column nearest the ceiling-high windows. His brother, formerly owner, a blue twelve-year-old blue cat named Gumball who usually sat next to him, wasn't here today because he had food poisoning. He thought it had come from the chili he had yesterday. His father had cooked it, and only Gumball had eaten it.

Darwin saw Dad making the chili as he came home off the bus, but Gumball, who'd gotten detention for talking in class, didn't. Gumball came home some time later, and got some for a snack.

"Hey, Gumball," said Darwin, waving and walking into the dining room.

"Hey, Darwin," Gumball replied with a full mouth, waving back.

Darwin glanced at the dish in front of his brother, and in an instant, worry swept over him. Sweat beads started forming on his head. "Uh, what are you eating?"

"Chili," Gumball answered.

"Dude, Dad made that!"

Gumball held the spoon in his gaping mouth as he let his brother's words sink in. He felt the heat of the chili condense on the roof of his mouth, and it suddenly felt sickening. He tightened his stomach. Keeping his mouth agape, he put the spoon back into the bowl, put the bowl in the sink, then lied face up on the couch. He clutched his belly, which he expected to start hurting soon. When it didn't, he went back to business as usual: playing video games with Darwin until his mother came home, chewed him out, and made him complete his homework.

When Gumball woke up this morning, he started throwing up on the floor by his bed. Darwin went to school with only his little sister, a four-year-old pink bunny named Anais. Going to school without Gumball was something he had never done before. He was used to having his brother with him there, and he usually tagged alongside him, making an unspoken promise to stay right by his side.

Now that Gumball was absent, Darwin sat in class silent, bored. But that meant that he didn't have any reason to get in trouble with his brother.

Gumball had behavioral issues at school, often committing acts that ticked off his peers and the school staff. Darwin had been spared the two hours of tedium in detention yesterday by having gone to the bathroom at just the right time. Now, he imagined he was feeling the same as Gumball had yesterday as he reclined in his chair, his green shoe clad feet sticking out from under the desk. The only difference he could perceive between now and detention was that some other students in the class were talking in the background, which they were permitted to quietly do once their assignment was complete, which was so in Darwin's case.

He wasn't silent because he had to be; it was because he had no one to talk to. Some of his classmates were his friends, but they were more familiar with Gumball than with him. Plus, they all had their own circles of friends, but Gumball and Darwin were somewhat drifters.

With a few minutes before the class change bell, Darwin turned his head just enough so that he could see William. Soon, William noticed him and looked back. It seemed like there was some connection forged between the two. Suddenly, Darwin didn't just see William as a creepy looking eye in the sky; he saw a normal student.

William had no friends, but that didn't mean he wanted it that way. He had even extended friendship to Gumball and Darwin earlier in the year, but because of his lack of a mouth, they couldn't understand. He planned on trying again, even though Darwin had whacked him through the window with a tennis racket because he had attacked them using his psionic eye for supposedly rubbing their friendship in his face. He soon saw this act as a misunderstanding, too, after having had time to recover. This time, he would try to communicate in a way that could be understood. All he had to do was wait for class to end.

Looking at William, Darwin regretted what he had done to him. It was assault—ironic since Darwin was a self-proclaimed paci-fish. In fact, he was fortunate that William hadn't told Principal Brown on him. Darwin had written an apology to William, but he had never heard back from him. He feared he and Gumball were unforgiven. Of course, he couldn't understand if he was told face-to-face. He could only hope.


	2. Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

Anais and Darwin stood at the bus stop, looking back at their house a few lots down the road.

"I wonder what it's gonna be like without Gumball here today," Anais said with concern for her older brother. "He never misses school without us. I hope he'll be alright."

"So do I," said Darwin. "Dad really needs some cooking lessons."

"Darwin," said Anais sternly. "Don't be rude." Darwin pouted.

"You know I'm not wrong," he muttered, but she heard him and glared. He glared back. As they had their staring contest, Anais thought about it, and her features softened.

"Ah, who am I kidding? He does."

Darwin smiled, nodding in agreement. He soon noticed the bulge in Anais' backpack. It was probably some project in her EG (exceptionally gifted) class. If it was, though, she could have held it in her hands. It wasn't like it was a toy, like when she brought her Daisy the Donkey doll on the bus and Tobias Wilson swiped it from her.

Soon, the bus pulled up in front of them, and they climbed aboard. In Anais' case, it was quite literal. She was so short, she had to climb the steps like they were a mountain. Darwin carried her up the last step, though.

"Good morning, little dudes," said Rocky, the bus driver. Darwin and Anais waved smiling as they passed him. When they sat in one of the seats in the middle four rows on the right side (from a rider's perspective), Darwin sat on the inside and stared out the window, anxious about the day.

Anais was more able to hide her emotions. She didn't see Gumball on a regular school day as much as Darwin did, but knowing the fact that he wouldn't be there troubled her some. She decided to put it out of her mind.

Anais unzipped her bag and pulled out what was causing such a bulge. Darwin turned his head to see. It was a metallic blue box with golden stars embedded in its faces. The top side of it was red, and on the right side was a bent reflective arm with a red knob. All his thoughts about what the day could bring escaped him.

"Anais, is that your Jack-in-the-box?" asked Darwin.

"Yep," she said. "I'm bringing it for show-and-tell."

"What's show-and-tell?"

"Ah, Darwin. If only you'd been with us when Gumball was my age. Show-and-tell is an activity where you bring some object in for class, and you tell stuff about it to the class."

"Why don't I have show-and-tell?"

"By your grade, it's become obsolete. You should be smart enough not to need it."

"Oh." Another thought occurred to him. "Wait. You're smarter than me. Why are you doing it?"

"Because my classmates and I are young. It gives us the chance to act our ages."

"So you get to act like Gumball?"

"Yep." The two shared a laugh, thinking nothing about it being behind Gumball's back. They would do the same if he was with them.

"You should probably put that away, though," said Darwin, abruptly cutting off laughter from the two of them. "You know what happens when you bring a toy out on the bus."

"Oh, I'm not worried about that," responded Anais, sure of herself. "Remember, I'm a doll."

"Huh?" Darwin asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"You'll see. He'd better not do something stupid. Plus, it makes by bookbag a little heavy." She lifted it to show how it had lightened without the extra item.

"Oh."

Anais and Darwin continued their bus ride in silence. Anais looked down and placed her hand on the arm, but she didn't wind it. Darwin noticed this and sensed her desire. She wanted to use it, to get in touch with her childish side.

She hardly ever played with the Jack-in-the-box she had gotten for her third birthday since she spent most of her time working on seventh grade level work. Since her class was that level, everyone received that workload. To call the work hard would make Anais laugh. There was just a lot of it. It took time to do.

Her hand started to move, and music began to play slowly for three seconds before she stopped, her lips curling upward with fondness.

"Play it," said Darwin, smiling at her. "You know you want to."

Anais smiled back and began winding the arm more rapidly. The music played again in time with the arm, and it reached its climax when the Jack popped out. Darwin patted her head affectionately as the bus stopped.

"I'll take that Jack off your hands," sneered Tobias from the seat behind them as he stood up, grabbed the toy by the Jack, yanked, and snatched the box from Anais' grip. With his other hand, he grabbed the bouncing box.

"Hey! Give that back!" shouted Anais. She jumped at it, but Tobias lifted it out of her reach, still holding it by the Jack. He smiled maliciously at her.

"I don't know how you got in advanced classes. You're too stupid to remember what happens when you bring a toy out on the bus," he taunted. Anais' brows thickened, and lines formed on her forehead. Her front tooth stuck out of her mouth. She clenched her fists. Darwin looked and instantly remembered. He picked her up and held her in front of Tobias.

"Aw. Is the wittle baby mad?" asked Tobias in baby talk. "Does baby wanna wattle to fwaiw?"

"You asked for it, Tobias," Darwin said plainly. Anais' hand became rigid, her arm perfectly aligned with her palm. She swept it up in the air and brought it down on Tobias's face. She did it over and over.

"Aah! Hey! Stop it!" Tobias shouted, trying to shield his face, but it was no use. He had awoken Anais' inner demon. Until she was appeased, 'stop' was unfamiliar to that blur of an arm.

"Give her back the Jack-in-the-box," ordered Darwin. "She can do this all day."

"No! Aah!" he refused while still under fire. Anais was small, but she was tough, an inherited trait from her mother. Tobias's lack of physical strength didn't hurt, either. It did, but not her. Her chops were bruising his face and the hand he used to feebly attempt to shield his face.

"Darwin, Anais, Tobias," called Rocky. They all turned to him. Anais's hand stopped in midair. Glancing at Tobias, she saw the opportunity, leaned over, and grabbed the Jack-in-the-box from him. She then gloatingly grinned.

"I'm gonna have to ask you guys to sit down. You know the rule about standing on the bus when its moving."

They sat down. Tobias tenderly rubbed his sore skin as the bus started moving again.

"Hey, Tobias," said Darwin, smiling smugly as he stood in his seat and faced behind himself, propping a similarly smiling Anais up with his fin. Tobias glared up at them.

"That's what happens when you mess with…The Anai-hilator!"

Anais crossed her arms, stuck out her tongue, and blew at him. Tobias closed his eyes as her spit, which he wiped off, landed on his face. As Darwin and Anais sat back down, Anais put her Jack-in-the-box back into her bookbag. They all got to the school without speaking again.

As they got off, Tobias shot them a scowl as he followed. A lone student was in the front seat, and he watched as the two Wattersons exited. He put most of his attention, though, on Tobias, staring at him as he left the bus and walked up the steps to the school. His eyelid lowered some, showing a little disapproval.

Once Tobias was inside, the student flew out the window and entered himself.


	3. Chapter Three

Happy EveliOctober!

CHAPTER THREE

Unexpectedly, William broke the gaze and floated away from his desk to the front of the room, having spotted something from the corner of his body. This wasn't the first time that this happened. He had a really good eye, so little could escape his detection. He found it so confounding how no one took him seriously and kept trying to hide it. His eyelid dipped down, showing his annoyance at this.

Darwin's eyes followed William's flight path as William went up to Miss Simian, who was posting upcoming events in the calendar of her computer. Hearing the flapping of his wings coming closer, she glanced at him. Once he was right next to her, she leaned over in her swivel chair, her ear pointed at him, and listened.

She looked toward the back of the classroom, a look mixing a deploring scowl with intense concentration. Darwin couldn't tell at whom. Then, she got up, leaving her stooped posture unchanged, and walked on her short, barefoot legs to the book shelf next to the door. On top of the shelf was a box of tissues. She grabbed one, folded it, and walked toward the back of the room, her large left hand dragging on the tile floor next to her from her long, slender arms. Her concentrated glare never faltered.

Darwin's gaze followed her as she went from the front of the class to the back.

"Tobias, spit out your gum!" she commanded in her usual high-pitched voice, holding out the tissue for him. All eyes shifted and were focused on the rainbow-colored puff ball boy. He groaned and spat into the tissue.

"Next time, don't let there be one," she said, watching as Tobias sulked. He stuck out his tongue to her. Then, she leaned down, holding the desk, opening her eyes more, and furrowing her eyebrows into a steeper slope. Her voice deepened. Tobias backed up in his seat as far as he could. He was uncomfortable with people getting in his face who he didn't want.

"And don't show me attitude. Save it for one of the few reserve team friends you have." She got up and went back to her desk. Tobias used her turned back as an opportunity to stick his tongue out at her.

"Since this is the fifth time I've had to get on to you for this in this month, I'm giving you detention this Friday."

"What?!" said Tobias. "You can't do that! I was selected to take Anthony's spot for the rest of the season."

"First of all, you should have taken that into consideration before you put the stick in your mouth. Second, you know how many brain cells you need to chew gum? More than you can afford to lose."

Miss Simian pointed at Tobias' incomplete worksheet. Not even half was complete, and she was certain some were incorrect. Tobias wore a poker face.

"Third, why do you think I punished you that way? I like our football team's record, so I'm doing them a favor." Many of the students cracked up at that remark, enjoying the show. Tobias crossed his arms and looked away frowning.

In the male's restroom on the third floor, an eighth grader suddenly shuddered. _That's weird. I feel like some weight got lifted off me. I suddenly feel good about Friday._ He shrugged, finished his business, and returned to class.

"Oh! Oh!" called Banana Joe, the class clown, an actual banana. "I guess she…uh…" All eyes were on him as everyone waited for him to finish his joke. They weren't going to laugh, but it was pointless and time wasting to leave a joke unfinished. Sadly, Joe couldn't find a clever, or otherwise, play on words to use. "Huh," he said. "I've got nothing."

"Like a good sense of humor," said Miss Simian.

Everyone burst out laughing, even Tobias, momentarily forgetting he was being punished.

They all felt that way about Joe, but no one wanted to tell him. His jokes were along the lines of:

"The paper and tape must be good friends. They're really bonding. Hahahaha!"

Miss Simian, though, had been teaching for three hundred thousand years. She had developed a sarcastic sense of humor and a spine—a now stooped, three hundred thousand-year-old spine. She could unapologetically say what she said, and now that it was out in the open, nothing held anyone back.

All Joe could do was smile sheepishly trying to pretend he wasn't embarrassed.

"Ok! That's enough!" Miss Simian said, and the class went silent. "Detention Friday. Don't skip out on it," she said to Tobias. She sat down and continued working on her calendar. Tobias turned toward William's desk, where William had returned. He stared at him in a way that made it seem like lasers would shoot from his eyes. William knew he would, but he simply ignored the look. Out of sight, out of the scope of his power.

The bell rang about three minutes later, and everyone grabbed his or her belongings and left. Darwin went and grabbed an extra worksheet from the stack on the table in front of Miss Simian's office. There was a massive crowd at the door the everyone tried to leave, as if the room was constipated. With the tiniest of steps, they all got out in about 45 seconds.

Tobias waited until the congestion passed, glaring at William. He was always getting him in trouble. Why? There wasn't anything Tobias did that was so bad, right? What was so bad about chewing gum in class? He never really understood that.

William flew in Darwin's direction, following him out of the classroom. Darwin felt a little nervous because of his unfamiliarity with traversing the halls without his companion—unless he was going to the restroom. Usually now, Darwin would have a bright, cheery grin on his face. Now, he was sweating some, his teeth were clenched, and his shoulders would involuntarily rise, which he tried to prevent.

William zoomed right in front of him, dropping down from the ceiling. Darwin gasped and tensed up more, expecting an attack. Wouldn't you if someone came down from above and surprised you?

"Oh. Hey, William," Darwin said, looking for any signs of anger and resentment in his classmate. Even though he found nothing, he was still tense. "What is it?"

William stared at him for a few seconds until he flew up to where Darwin's ear might have been, making him cringe slightly. He bobbed up and down because trying to fly and stay still tired his wings out. His eyelashes brushed against Darwin's orange scales, tickling him, but he bit his lip.

"I received your letter from the time I terrorized you and Gumball. I just want you to know that I forgive you for sending me sailing through the window," William whispered through his eyelashes. His voice was deep and had a sophisticated British accent. Darwin was relieved enough to relax his shoulders, and along with that, he was amazed. He thought that this sort of thing only worked with Miss Simian.

"Now, since you probably didn't hear before since I don't have a mouth (I communicate verbally with my eyelashes), I'm sorry for terrorizing you. And I'm also sorry for not using this method of talking before. I guess it would've prevented all that stuff, huh?"

William moved away from the side of Darwin's face to see the front. Darwin was smiling.

"It would have. How come you never tried it before?"

William looked away in contemplation, but no answer was reaching out to him. Why hadn't he tried that from the start?

"I believe I was just being an idiot afraid of and reluctant about trying unfamiliar things. But I'll try something new now: at lunch, would you sit with me, please?"

"Sure."

"Thank you, Darwin. I'll be at the table near the window."

"Thanks for telling me."

William turned and flew away towards his locker, which was in the adjacent hallway. Darwin walked to his own locker, not far away from where he stood now. He smiled as he turned the dial and opened it. There was nothing more to worry about between the two. Gumball might have been a different story, but for now, there was an improvement between Darwin and William. The pendulum didn't swing above him anymore. He grabbed his World Studies textbook, closed the door, and carried it to third period.

* * *

><p><strong>There are nearly one thousand stories posted on this archive. One such fanfiction that no longer resides her is lexboss' <em>The Love<em>. It's a story, written with help from her beta reader EvelioandZgroup, that is part of the archive's history, contributing to bring to popularity the Amazing World of Gumball lemons. Not every current user had the ability to read this story due to its removal. Now I hear that several users really want lexboss to resubmit her story. For those of you who continue ask her when she's going to repost, I only can say this: SHUT UP! Does your repetitive questioning beneficial to anyone? Is it providing for you the gratification you so desperately seek? I say you people who only seem to speak the language of "when?" are Hurry-up Harrys to whom patience is foreign. Lexboss, who feels distressed by all the impatience, will submit her story when she submits it. That is all you need to know. It is, as of yet, undetermined when that day will come, but the sun won't rise by your command. Enough.**


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